


in the darkness before the dawn

by beautyoftheshadows (orphan_account)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Unmitigated self-indulgent ridiculously saccharine fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-22 23:09:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9629291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/beautyoftheshadows
Summary: After the fall of the First Order, Finn and Rey look to the future.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A ficlet for FinnRey Friday, originally posted on tumblr. The theme was “future.”

Rey can feel his approach even before he enters the courtyard. It’s still new and strange, this Force binding them together. It’s just a tenuous thread, the barest whisper on the edge of her consciousness, but Master Skywalker says that with time, and training, they’ll be able to find each other from opposite sides of the galaxy.

Now, in the soft starlight of a ruined Jedi temple, Rey is hyper-aware of Finn as he settles softly beside her. She can feel his soul, yes, his life-force, his essence, as much as part of the Force as she is, but she notices other things as well. She can hear his soft, even breathing and the gravel shifting slightly below his feet. His robe barely brushes against her shoulder, and she feels electric. And she can smell him, the scent of the smoke from the bonfire and beneath that, his own scent, something indescribable but comforting all the same.

“You should come back to the party,” he says. “They’re making toasts in our honor.”

“We’re a Big Deal in the Resistance,” she teases, a statement rewarded with a chuckle and a playful elbow to the ribs. They smile at each other, twin grins in the night. After a moment, the smile fades from her face as she looks across the stone courtyard, contemplative.

“What’s up?” Finn asks, placing a gentle hand on her knee.

Rey feels like she can’t breathe, like the only thing in the whole world is Finn’s quiet voice and his dark eyes and his strong, caring hand on her knee. The night air around her is cool and tinged with smell of smoke, and she could drown in Finn’s presence. After a long moment, she breathes in.

“This place was beautiful once,” Rey says. The walls of the courtyard are scorched and crumbling, and ivy chokes the archways. “A place of law and learning and protection. It was a physical manifestation of everything the Jedi Order stood for.”

“The Empire and the First Order left their scars everywhere,” Finn says. “Just because we’ve won, it doesn’t erase that. It doesn’t erase the horrors that they inflicted.” He leaves the that I inflicted silent, but Rey hears it all the same. He has forgiven himself, a thousand times over, but there are some things that will stay with him always. Of all the scars on this galaxy, the ones Finn carries are among the worst. That they could take a man so brave, so loving, and leave him forever unsure of his own goodness and worth? That is a crime Rey will never forgive, and she has forgiven much already.

She places her hand on top of his, hoping Finn can feel her admiration, her pride, her sheer joy at knowing him. “The scars will heal with time. This place will be beautiful again, will be used again. We will make it so.”

Finn glances around. Rey can see him assessing the task before them, what they might need to get this place operational again. He can break tasks down, step by step, and analyze the logistics of each piece. Finn has the mind of a strategist, and it’s a process she can’t follow. Rey tackles every task, every day, head on. What use is planning for the next day if you aren’t going to live to see it?

“When I was on Jakku,” she says, “I never thought about the future. I was just waiting, spending my time until my family returned. And then… then there was the war, our every move determined by necessity. No time for aspirations, or dreams. I- I feel like now is the first time I have a future. One I can plan. One that involves… choices.”

“Choices?” Finn says, and Rey doesn’t remember leaning in but he’s suddenly very close to her, solid and warm and safe, with a smile that outshines the stars. “Like what?”

“Like this,” she says, and kisses him.

As her lips meet his and his fingers twine through her hair, the grey light of dawn steadily creeps over the horizon.


End file.
